IOWA CITY — The Iowa City West boys’ basketball team is the last bunch to be fooled by a somewhat pedestrian Linn-Mar win-loss record.

Just three weeks removed from a double-digit defeat at Linn-Mar, the Class 4A fifth-ranked Trojans got the better of the Lions in the rematch, 57-55, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game Friday night at West High School.

“We really tried to minimize our mistakes this game,” West senior Patrick McCaffery said. “And we tried to guard their shooters. We still made a few mistakes, but down the stretch I thought we really guarded and made them shoot a couple tough shots.”

McCaffery — a University of Iowa signee — led all scorers with 22 points, including a basket and three free throws in two possessions that capped an 8-0 surge and gave West a 53-50 lead with 3:38 left in the contest. Linn-Mar (3-4, 3-3 MVC) responded with two free throws from senior guard Jaren Nelson, who then stole the ball at midcourt and drove to the basket for the go-ahead score. His ensuing free throw completed a traditional 3-point play and had the Lions up 55-53 with 2:07 to go.

“They’re a tough matchup for us,” West Co-Coach Steve Bergman said. “They’re very senior-oriented. I guess my frustration is we just came off of two weeks of working on execution. We did it in stretches.”

For West (7-1, 4-1), a good stretch arrived over the final two minutes of the game. The Trojans’ defense held Linn-Mar scoreless, while a pair of free throws from Iowa City Regina transfer Even Brauns tied the game at 55-55 with 49.8 seconds left, then two more from senior Brayden Adcock gave the Trojans the lead with 20.1 ticks to go.

A late Linn-Mar drive to the basket by Hayden Passmore was defended well by West, and the shot was off.

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“It was good,” Bergman said. “I wanted Even in with the tie score because he can change some shots and he is a rebounder. We were really small out there a lot. ... I thought our defense wasn’t very good at times, but it was pretty good the last couple of possessions.”

Brauns finished with 10 points for West, which visits Dubuque Hempstead on Tuesday.

Trey Hutcheson posted a team-high 15 points for Linn-Mar, while Passmore chipped in 10. With 11 points, junior John Steffen gave the Lions three double-digit scorers.